19 leadership development goals to cultivate future-ready leaders

Budgets are tightening, and many organizations are rethinking their leadership structures. And with senior management roles affected by layoffs over the past year, middle managers are stepping up to fill the gap.*For professionals and companies looking to grow and adapt to change in 2025 and beyond, setting clear leadership development goals is essential.

While some people quickly adapt to a new level of responsibility, others need time to refine their leadership style, address skills gaps, and determine how to collaborate effectively with cross-functional team members. Either way, intentional goal-setting drives success for individuals, teams, and entire organizations.   

Whether you’re an HR professional helping leaders progress or an aspiring leader yourself, this guide outlines key leadership development goals across strategic thinking, team building, and decision-making. Let’s begin.

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*Leapsome’s Workforce Trends Report, 2024
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How to set useful leadership development goals

Establishing impactful leadership development goals differs from setting individual goals for professional development. Indeed, Richard Nolan, COO and Chief People Officer at Epos Now, believes that leadership development goals should “focus on fostering a shared vision and direction for a group, as well as developing processes to ensure that this shared purpose is met.” 

To set useful leadership goals, you need an in-depth understanding of your organization’s key priorities to ensure they align with these wider objectives. Is your company prioritizing digital transformation and innovation, brand positioning and market leadership, or revenue growth and profitability? Ask yourself, how can leadership development support the desired organizational direction? 

Once you understand how leadership growth can support organizational growth, ensure you establish measurable and, importantly, achievable goals. Ambition is admirable, but effective goals are realistic; they should push people without putting them at risk of stress or burnout. As Ethan Bernstein, Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour at the Harvard Business School, noted: “We can’t, as human beings, make progress if we make the milestones so grand and far away that they seem unachievable.”
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19 examples of leadership development goals for great performance

Leadership development goals can follow various goal-setting methodologies, like OKRs and SMART goals. Both approaches deliver considerable value (and often overlap); deciding what’s right for you (or the leaders you’re nurturing) depends on your organizational needs and preferred ways of working.

Below, we’ve curated a list of leadership development goals spanning various categories. Take a look and see which might be applicable to help you develop leadership skills in employees or yourself. 
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3 examples of decision-making leadership development goals

Example Goal 1: Implement decision-making frameworks & models 

Without the ability to make efficient, well-informed decisions, leaders can paralyze team output or even hamper business progress. Decision-making training and frameworks can help leaders collect relevant perspectives, gather data and evidence, and confidently push their choices forward.

✔️ Possible actions: 

⚫ Undertake decision-making training through a workshop, 1:1 mentorship with a colleague or industry peer, or via an online learning path built with a tool like Leapsome Learning.

⚫ Trial a few decision-making models and see which feels most intuitive; you might consider the CSD matrix, the DACI framework, or the SWOT analysis approach.

Example Goal 2: Practice data-driven decision-making 

Today’s workforce is bursting with useful data and insights, but most leaders often just scratch the surface. Set a leadership development goal to strengthen your understanding of the different data sources at your fingertips and learn how to interpret them. 

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Increase familiarity with analytics tools (including your HRIS platform) and regularly collect relevant data.

⚫ Work with analysts directly to extract key findings and assess how best to feed data into decision-making.

Example Goal 3: Align decisions with business values 

Strong leaders align decisions with the company’s identity to maintain mission clarity, brand consistency, transparency, and progress toward organizational goals.

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Clearly define core leadership values with other senior stakeholders. Then, refer to them regularly and ensure they’re communicated with the business.

⚫ Consider the multi-layered implications of each decision — including team members, customers, and other impacted communities.

3 examples of effective communication leadership development goals

Example Goal 1: Strengthen emotional intelligence (EQ) 

Some leaders have naturally high emotional intelligence, but EQ is a skill all professionals need to practice and hone over time.

Improving your emotional intelligence to better understand your own feelings will also help you collaborate more effectively with other professionals across different departments and specialties and learn how to support team members. 

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Seek ways to enhance your EQ and self-awareness through seminars or training and employ active listening skills to show up for your team with empathy.

⚫ Consider keeping a self-reflection record of your own frustrations and stressors to acknowledge key triggers and learn how to manage them.

Example Goal 2: Prioritize clarity & transparency in communications

Transparency is integral for good leaders — and 40% of workers experience a decline in trust toward leadership when effective communication is lacking. Prioritizing honesty and clarity in your communications makes team members feel more comfortable and informed, and is consistent with a better employee experience and company culture.

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Review your communications to ensure your messaging is consistent across channels and departments.

⚫ Build a sense of shared accountability by sharing both positive and negative updates with your team.

⚫ Use empowering leadership techniques to foster a culture of trust that encourages open dialogue.

Example Goal 3: Formalize feedback delivery processes

Constructive feedback is crucial to improving performance and can change the trajectory of people’s careers. Yet, our 2024 Workforce Trends Report found that while 71% of managers reported giving constructive feedback in the last week, only 37% of individual contributors (ICs) reported receiving it — a gap detrimental to performance, progression, and business success.

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Set up regular feedback sessions with peers to get different perspectives on how you can improve as a leader.

⚫ Share leadership survey questions with team members and reports to get candid, anonymous feedback and foster continuous improvement.

⚫ Implement a tool like Instant Feedback that facilitates quick and easy feedback exchanges, as well as data insights and public praise.

Examples of innovation & creativity leadership development goals

Example Goal 1: Facilitate knowledge sharing & collaboration 

If you’re making it your mission to improve creativity and innovation within your organization, knowledge silos are your enemy. Find ways to bring teams together and enable them to make the most of their biggest resource: each other. 

✔️ Possible actions: 

⚫ Schedule cross-departmental collaboration sessions and pair different peer groups to generate new insights.

⚫ Support (or instigate) development programs that connect employees from different areas across the organization.

Example Goal 2: Encourage experimentation (& learn from failure) 

Experimentation is a key component of creativity. As a leader, it’s up to you to foster a culture where team members have the confidence to experiment, take (controlled) risks, and feel comfortable thinking outside the box. 

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Create psychologically safe conditions for new ideas to be aired without judgment, like informal brainstorming sessions or workshops.

⚫ Reward innovative and creative thinking with shoutouts or small prizes, even when they don’t directly lead to solutions.

Example Goal 3: Harness technology to drive creativity 

Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning and tools that enable virtual collaboration can transform how you, your team, and your organization do business.

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Follow professional influencers in your industry or niche to stay ahead of the curve and understand how your peers are using the latest technology.

⚫ Experiment with new software solutions and apps regularly to ensure your team has access to software that encourages innovative thinking, supports ideation, and helps them work more efficiently. </tip box>

3 examples of strategic thinking leadership development goals

Example Goal 1: Develop & articulate a long-term organizational vision

Forecasting and developing a long-term vision for your company (or your department within a broader company) is essential for strategic thinking. It helps you stay ahead of competitors, anticipate challenges, and keep your organization aligned with its goals.

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Attend training on building strategic foresight skills.

⚫ Collaborate with other teams to ensure each facet of the business is aligned with the shared direction.

⚫ Use growth metrics to stay accountable to your long-term vision.

Example Goal 2: Optimize company-wide resource allocation

Research by the Resource Management Institute revealed that only 60% of respondents had an “adequate skills database capability” for accurate resource planning. Closing this knowledge gap is a leadership development goal that could make a huge difference in organizational efficiency.

✔️ Possible action:

⚫ Assess your team or organization’s efficiency and skill sets to optimize work allocation. You might consider hiring an operations consultant to assist with this process or make a business case to invest in a people-centered employee time-tracking tool.

Example Goal 3: Improve industry awareness & market scanning 

Expanding your awareness and understanding of the wider industry greatly benefits leadership development. Paired with your long-term vision, staying attuned to geopolitical factors and their potential impact enables you to identify threats and implement proactive solutions.

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Attending and/or speaking at relevant conferences, expos, and webinars to build your network.

⚫ Carrying out a structured, regular market review, tracking industry trends, shifting regulations, and competitor activity.

3 examples of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) leadership development goals 

Example Goal 1: Transform talent acquisition to attract diverse candidates 

If your business has specific DEIB targets, you can support their efforts with your leadership development initiatives. Diversity begins with who you recruit, but doesn’t end there — progression opportunities are just as vital.

As Liz Kofman-Burns, Co-Founder of DEIB consulting firm Peoplism, shared: “The diversity of your leadership team has an outsized impact on DEI. Why? Because your ambitious, talented employees want to know that they can make it to the top.” 

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Consider what provisions might attract different candidates or enable them to progress and recommend adjustments to your organizational policies accordingly. For instance, a fifth of women say that flexible working has helped them stay in their jobs.

⚫ Partner with HBCUs, women-in-tech organizations, and other underrepresented talent networks to source candidates for open roles.

Example Goal 2: Improve accountability by tracking DEIB metrics 

Continuously tracking DEIB metrics helps ensure you’re a leader who doesn’t just “talk the talk.” The right metrics can inform your action plan for improving DEIB practices within your organization, too. 

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Collaborate with other senior leaders to establish the best DEIB metrics to observe, such as hiring metrics, representation metrics, and employee experience metrics.

⚫ Ensure all leadership team members regularly review internal DEIB data (ideally once per quarter).

⚫ Share DEIB progress and key metrics internally with all employees at least twice a year.

Example Goal 3: Implement inclusive leadership practices

Encourage an organizational commitment to DEIB by promoting inclusive leadership practices. This can help foster an “open-door” culture where diverse voices feel encouraged to speak up and are included in decision-making. 

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Establish and formalize an organizational inclusive leadership policy.

⚫ Address equity and inclusion gaps, such as pay gaps across gender and race or lack of people from underrepresented groups in leadership roles.

⚫ Conduct at least one listening session focused on inclusion and belonging per quarter.

Example Goal 4: Bolster cultural competency & sensitivity 

Build on your ability to interact and work with people from different cultures and backgrounds in a professional, respectful, and welcoming way; you can attend cultural competence training, but that’s just the beginning. 

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Organize at least one cultural learning session, culture celebration, or guest speaker event per quarter.

⚫ Advocate for a culturally inclusive holiday and observance policy, ensuring equitable time off options for diverse employees.

⚫ Ensure all internal and external communications reflect inclusive language and diverse perspectives.

3 examples of team-building & management leadership development goals

Example Goal 1: Reduce workplace conflict through early resolution 

Mastering conflict resolution helps create a positive work environment, minimizing the risk of escalation and enabling team members to feel heard and valued. This can also boost efficiency and reduce the time and costs associated with dispute management.  

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Undertake conflict resolution training or independently research and apply conflict resolution techniques to hypothetical scenarios.

⚫ Learn to recognize the early stages of conflict to reach resolutions before escalation and track the causes of conflict to minimize the risk of recurrence.

Example Goal 2: Empower team members with coaching & mentoring opportunities

Not only is it immensely rewarding to see team members reach their professional potential, but mentoring and coaching — whether casual or through organized programs — can also help employees feel more invested in the future of their organization.

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Schedule regular coaching sessions with team members keen to progress in a similar field to yours.

⚫ Lead a formalized mentorship initiative to provide more coaching opportunities across your organization.

Example Goal 3: Boost organizational engagement levels

Building and sustaining engagement is central to learning how to manage a team effectively. Investing time in this leadership development goal means prioritizing team member well-being and satisfaction, helping employees see how their work contributes to the bigger picture, and ensuring people’s efforts align with broader company goals.

✔️ Possible actions:

⚫ Conduct weekly 1:1 check-ins with direct reports and encourage other leaders to do the same.

⚫ Implement a team- or organization-wide peer recognition system.

⚫ Ensure team members contribute to key decisions and initiatives, for example, through brainstorming sessions, retrospectives, or innovation challenges.

Why use goal-setting tools for leadership development goals?

Too often, long-term leadership development goals are overlooked as the organization’s day-to-day demands take priority; goal-setting tools drive up accountability for these goals. 

With a holistic platform like Leapsome, you can use the Goals module to set and track your leadership development goals and share them with peers, teams, or the whole organization. This is complemented by the Reviews module, which streamlines performance reviews and ensures you’re consistently working toward your professional growth objectives.

‍Competency Frameworks and Instant Feedback are the final pieces of the puzzle. They allow you to establish key areas of focus for progress and exchange informal, candid feedback across your entire company, respectively. 

👀 Never developed a competency framework before?

‍Our detailed competency framework template can help you get started. It can easily be customized for leaders, managers, or individual contributors.

Meet your leadership development goals with Leapsome

Whatever your area of focus, setting leadership development goals is crucial for personal growth and organizational success. Choose actionable and measurable goals, and leverage an AI-powered HR platform like Leapsome to track progress and ensure accountability.

Our Goals module empowers existing leaders to upskill. It helps future leaders reach their potential through flexible goal processes and frameworks that can be adapted to suit each individual and their personal development. 

⭐ Empowering your org’s leaders

‍Our comprehensive suite of people enablement tools is ideal for supporting leadership development initiatives. 

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